Phone +45 3051 4143
ph@danishfarmersabroad.dk
Over the past three months, we have welcomed many new members - both agricultural companies and a number of new members from the Agro-industry.
It is really great to see the great interest in becoming a member of the association and becoming part of our network. I am convinced, that our many experience exchange groups, where we are actually continuously expanding the number of groups and topics, contribute to strengthening interest in the network.
Many of the new companies in the membership circle are not Danish-owned, but they share our common values of high efficiency, innovation and good farming. We ensure this by, as decided at our General Meeting, that the board approves all inquiries before they are admitted as members. The great interest means that our network is not only growing in number, but also in quality. Therefore, the new members bring a wealth of experience and expertise, which helps to make our network more diverse and stronger than ever.
Many of our members, like our industry in general, are challenged by the lack of qualified and motivated workforce. This has inspired many of our members to introduce a more open and alternative approach to recruitment.
We see that more and more positions are being filled by young people from third countries. who are actively seeking opportunities to establish themselves and develop a career in a European country. These employees not only bring new perspectives and strong motivation, but they often demonstrate a high degree of loyalty to their workplace and industry.
By opening up the industry to the international workforce, we have gained access to committed and willing to learn individuals, who can contribute to innovation, stability and continued growth in the European agricultural and food sector. This is an opportunity, that we should actively seize and recognize as an important resource for the future of the industry.
The secretariat receives an incredible number of inquiries from young people from different countries, who want to work on a farm in Europe. We have therefore made an addition to our virtual Marketplace at www.danishfarmersabroad.com, where members can access a number of applicants.
However, GDPR regulations mean that users need a password to access the job applicants.
We have already sent a password to all our members. If, contrary to expectations, you have not received it, simply send a mail to the secretariat at: tom@axelgaard.org, and you will receive it as soon as possible.
We have also started a collaboration with Peder Top from the Danish Agricultural Job Service, who has a lot of foreign interns who have had an internship in Denmark and who want to find a good job in agriculture in Denmark or elsewhere in Europe.
Contact information for the Danish Agricultural Job Service can be found on the DFA website
We are still experiencing a significant increase in interest in Danish Farmers Abroad on social media, especially on LinkedIn and Facebook. We are incredibly happy about this and we see more and more followers every day.
We will pursue this interest in a positive way. We therefore encourage everyone to share your good stories or experiences about your production, whether good or bad experiences from daily life, which may be interesting for your colleagues with similar challenges.
A story can consist of a short description of a success or a mistake that you have learned from, and preferably illustrated with a picture or a video from the field, the barn or something else.
Send your story to the secretariat by email: tom@axelgaard.org, and I will make sure it is posted as soon as possible.
See more about DFA on Facebook.
Almost 30 members of DFA will travel to India at the end of October on the association's annual study trip. The country of visit, India, has the world's largest population and is located in a climate zone, that offers great opportunities for agriculture to feed the population. We look forward to sharing our impressions of the country here in the newsletter.
See the program here.
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel this year's seminar for veterinarians due to low registrations. We usually hold the seminar in collaboration with Ø-Vet for the group of veterinarians employed in the association's member companies.
We aim to be able to gather the group again for a seminar in early 2026.
In collaboration with Danish Agro, Vilomix, DFA is holding a seminar for the group of feed mill managers and others, who work with feed production. The seminar will be held in Denmark in Central Jutland and will include visits to both Danish Agro's factory in Galten, west of Aarhus, and Skjold's innovation center in Ikast.
The seminar is a great opportunity to gain new knowledge and network with managers within this field of work. It is still possible to register for the seminar, but this must be done no later than Friday 19 September.
See more about the program and registration here.
The FPM team of 7 mid-level pig managers will have their final seminar on September 23-25 in Denmark. This will conclude the training they started in September last year. Sofie Hammerskov is the course manager.
Contact the secretariat if you have potential mid-level managers for a similar training. See info about the completed course here.
At the end of September, 11 mid-level Ukrainian pig managers will gather in Odense to start the first module of three for a new training course, that DFA offers in collaboration with Dalum Agricultural College. The training is called: “Practical Management and Leadership Training Program” and Dalum Agricultural School is responsible for the practical implementation.
The Ukrainian team consists of managers from Goodvalley Ukraine, Agroeast, Danam Farm and Halychyna Zahid and the course is specially designed, so that the training can be followed by people with limited English skills. The course manager is the Ukrainian Natalja Kharchenko, who is currently a consultant at Velas, Denmark.
For more information about the training, contact Povl Nørgaard, DFA, +4531720145 or Carsten Poulsen, Dalum Agricultural College on +45 27691709.
The training is also offered in an English version starting September 2026 – see the description here.
DFA will hold the upcoming Winter Conference 2026 in Vienna on 22 - 23 January 2026. This choice is justified by very good evaluations from the participants, who attended the conference in January this year, which consisted of many senior employees from DFA member companies, as well as company people.
The program focuses on food supply in a geopolitically unstable situation and a focus on green transition and how a de-bureaucratization of the EU can ease administrative burdens for companies. There will be case studies from companies that highlight their challenges in the green transition and challenges in securing themselves against disease transmission. In addition, presentations that highlight the challenges in EU agricultural policy. The DFA General Assembly concludes the course.
The conference will be held at the conference center at Vienna Airport - accommodation is also available here.
A preliminary program will be available late in September – but reserve the two days now for a professional update and reunion with colleagues in the network.
In connection with the Vienna Conference, we are once again offering this year that you as member from the agro-industry can present a mini-exhibition of your products.
There was good feedback from those who did it last year. The conditions in the modern conference center are truly ideal for the purpose, and there is plenty of time during the breaks to have a chat with interested members. There was even a company that had a wine tasting in the program, which was a great success.
A separate invitation will be sent to our company contacts, but set aside the days for the event now, and send your registration to mail: tom@axelgaard.org
The secretariat has received several inquiries from members who want to get their employed managers in pig production into an experience exchange group. The interest comes from the association's new members from Romania, Bulgaria and Spain. The inquiries from Spain are particularly interesting, as they will give us a direct impression of pig production in a country, where production has developed strongly over the past 10-15 years.
We will invite those interested to an introductory program, which will be held in Denmark in connection with the Pig Congress on 21-22 October in Herning. Here they will meet managers from two existing experience exchange groups.
See more about DFA experience groups here or contact Tom Axelgaard in the DFA Secretariat – mail: tom@axelgaard.org
We have received inquiries from members who would like to give their younger mid-level crop managers some management tools. Therefore, we would like to hear from others who have potential crop managers for a training course. The goal is to be able to assemble a team of 10-12 mid-level crop managers to start a course in the first half of 2026.
See more about the content here
Contact Povl Nørgaard for further info on mail: povl@povlnorgaard.dk
At the end of May, members of DFA EEG 2 went on a trip to Brazil and Paraguay to see South American pig production. See coordinator Martin Thorsen's report from the trip - including insight into the routines and results of two farms.
See a summary of the trip here.
At the end of August, the group of Production Directors met for an EEG-meeting in Poland, including a visit to Goodvalley. Thomas Asmussen is the coordinator of the group, which has a specific focus on management and strategy.
We have received harvest results from the following companies: Goodvalley Poland, Goodvalley Ukraine, Halychyna Zahid, Ukraine and Jasna-Pol, Poland.
See their harvest reports here.
See a overview of planned activities here.
Danish Agro Machinery Group, part of Danish Agro – a farmer-owned cooperative dating back to 1901 – launched their online digital platform in 2024, offering used agricultural equipment from all their subsidiaries in 9 countries in Europe.
Read more about the company here.
Here is some guidelines for using the platform
Contact:
Ole Würtz, Sales used Machinery international – Platform manager
Cellphone: +45 27 87 38 06. Mail: olwu@danishagro.dk
Rasmus Thing, Sales director Denmark, cellphone: +45 27 25 35 45. Mail: rth@da-m.dk
Overview members from the Agro-industry.
